The Evolved Packet System (EPS) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is composed of an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving Gateway (S-GW), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), and a Home Subscriber Server (HSS). FIG. 1 illustrates the architecture of a Home evolved NodeB (H(e)NB) accessing an EPS in a non-roaming scene according to the related art. The architecture of the EPS will be described below with reference to FIG. 1.
An MME is connected with a EUTRAN, an S-GW and a HeNB gateway (HeNB GW), and is responsible for related works of the control plane, such as mobility management, non-access layer signaling processing and management of the user mobility management context; the S-GW is an access gateway device connected with the E-UTRAN, forwards data between the E-UTRAN and a P-GW, and is responsible for caching paging waiting data; the P-GW is a border gateway between the EPS and a Packet Data Network (PDN), and is responsible for functions, such as access of the PDN and forwarding data between the EPS and PDN.
The EPS supports access of HeNBs. An HeNB is a small and low-power base station which is deployed in indoor places such as home and offices. A Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) is a new concept proposed after incorporation of the HeNB. Generally the subscribers within a home or an enterprise constitute a closed subscriber group which is identified with a CSG ID. The HeNBs serving the subscribers within this closed subscriber group have the same CSG ID. When one closed subscriber group is only served by one HeNB, the closed subscriber group can also be directly identified by the HeNB identifier (e.g. BS ID). According to the willingness of the HeNB manager, CSG subscribers and/or non-CSG subscribers can be divided into different levels, and the enjoyed service priority, quality of service and service type may be all different for different priorities.
A subscriber can access a HeNB corresponding to a plurality of closed subscriber groups, for example the subscriber's office and home and so on, through signing a contract with the operator. Therefore, a concept of allowed closed subscriber group list is introduced. The list is stored in the terminal of the subscriber and the subscriber data server at the network side.
The use modes of the HeNB are divided into three types: closed mode, hybrid mode and open mode. When a HeNB is in a closed mode, only subscribed CSG subscribers belonging to the HeNB can access the HeNB and enjoy the services provided by the HeNB. When the HeNB is in an open mode, any subscriber subscribing to the operator can access the HeNB, in which case, the HeNB is equivalent to a macro base station. When the HeNB is in a hybrid mode, any subscriber subscribing to the operator or roaming subscriber can also be allowed to gain access, but they will be differentiated in terms of levels according to the information about whether the subscribers have subscribed to the CSG, that is, the subscriber who has subscribed to the CSG has a higher service priority when using the HeNB of the hybrid mode, and enjoys better quality of service and service types.
When the subscriber performs initialized access, the subscriber data server at the network side will send the closed subscriber group, which subscribed subscribers are allowed to gain access to, to the mobility management entity of the core network. The mobility management entity of the core network will use this information to perform access control for the UE. If the UE accesses the core network from a HeNB of closed mode that has not been authorized, the core network will reject access of such subscribers.
HeNB generally accesses the core network of the EPS via a rent fixed network line (also referred to as BBF (Broadband Access)). In order to ensure security of access, a Security Gateway (SeGW) is incorporated into the core network for masking, and the data between the HeNB and SeGW will be encapsulated by using IPSec. The HeNB can be directly connected to the MME and S-GW of the core network via the IPSec tunnel established between the HeNB and SeGW, or can also be connected to the MME and S-GW further via the HeNB GW (i.e. the HeNB GW is optional in the EPS). Meanwhile, in order to achieve management for the HeNB, a network element is incorporated: Home eNodeB Management System (HeMS).
The QoS (quality of service) of the fixed network line accessed by HeNB is generally limited by the subscription of the owner of HeNB and the fixed network operator. Therefore, when the 3GPP UE accesses the 3GPP core network to access services through the HeNB, the required QoS must not exceed the subscribed QoS of the fixed network line that can be provided by the fixed network operator. Otherwise, the QoS of the UE accessing services will not be guaranteed, especially for the Guaranteed Bitrate (GBR). Therefore, as for the 3GPP network, the total QoS demand for service access of all UEs accessing through the HeNB must be controlled not to exceed the subscribed QoS guarantee of the fixed network line which the HeNB accesses.
In addition, the UE can also access the EPS via the HNB. In this case, the HNB is connected to the HNB GW, the HNB GW is connected to the SGSN, and then the SGSN is connected to the S-GW.
In addition, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) also supports access of HNB (Home NodeB). FIG. 2 illustrates the architecture of an HNB accessing a UMTS in a non-roaming scene according to the related art. The architecture of FIG. 2 is the similar to that of FIG. 1, except that a Serving General packet radio service support node (SGSN) is used to replace the S-GW, and a Gateway General Packet Radio Service Supporting Node (GGSN) is used to replace P-GW. In the UMTS, the HNB GW is required. In addition, the UMTS system also supports Circuit Switch (CS) services, and the HNB GW is connected to a Mobile Switching Center (MSC).
At present, many operators pay attention to FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence), and study on the 3GPP and BBF (Broadband Forum) interconnection and intercommunication. As for the scene where the subscriber accesses a mobile core network through a Fixed Broadband Access Network, it needs to guarantee the QoS of data in the entire transmission path (the data will be transmitted via the fixed network and mobile network). In the current technology, QoS guarantee is achieved by interaction between the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) and the BPCF (Broadband Policy Control Framework) in the Fixed Broadband Access Network. BPCF is the policy control framework in the Fixed Broadband Access Network, and for the resource request message of the PCRF, the BPCF performs resource admission control according to network policy of the Fixed Broadband Access Network, the subscription information and the like, or forwards the resource request message to other network elements (e.g. BNG) of the BBF access network, and then other network elements implement resource admission control (i.e. entrusting other network elements to implement resource admission control).
When a H(e)NB accesses via the line of a subscribed fixed broadband access network, the scene where multiple H(e)NBs (e.g. H(e)NB, HNB) access the 3GPP core network through one subscribed fixed network line must be taken into consideration. At this moment, as for the 3GPP network, the total QoS demand of service access of all User Equipments (UEs) accessing through these multiple H(e)NBs must be controlled not to exceed the subscribed QoS guarantee of the same fixed network line which these multiple H(e)NBs access.
At present, an architecture for H(e)NB access policy control has been proposed, as shown in FIG. 3. The H(e)HB Policy Function is connected to H(e)NB sub-system, and performs policy control for H(e)NB access. Wherein, H(e)NB Policy Function may be separately deployed or may be integrated into PCRF. However, the related art only provides a rough architecture, and how to implement policy control is still a problem to be solved.